Children and the Mexican Border Crisis #MexicanBorder

I try not to make posts on political issues because they are so volatile in nature, but I couldn't help but make this one. It is a plea to all to consider the wide and varied complexities to a tough issue our nation is facing.

What America has to remember is that *children* are our weakness -- we value them and pamper them in ways that other countries don't, won't or can't. As a consequence being spared from hardships and wars, our children are more mild and loving and have many perks and advantages that children of other nations do not. In other countries, children are *tools* -- they are sold into slavery, they are used as drug mules, they are even recruited and turned into militants. Children in such places can be deadly forces to be reckoned with as young as 7 or 8 yrs of age. It is horrendous and shaming, but it is the truth nonetheless.  This is where our achiles heel is exposed -- if you wanted to invade the US, do not do it with an army -- send in the *children*. Many of the *children* crossing the Mexican border into the US are well above 7 or 8 yrs old -- more like teenagers and young adults. My heart bleeds for them, indeed it does. No child should have to live the way many children do whether in other countries or even children in the US that we turn a blind eye to and pretend does not exist in our Great Nation.

It is inevitable that the flow of children must be intercepted -- they must be checked for diseases that could cause epidemics if allowed to flow unchecked into the US; they must be checked for potential drugs hidden in their bodies to insure they are not *mules*; they must be intercepted to make certain they are not making their way into what equates to slavery in the agri-industry. They must be intercepted so that they don't become street people, homeless and hungry turning to theft or worse to survive. And they must be intercepted so that our already staggering economy does not plummet further than it already has. Do I begrudge these children a better life? Absolutely NOT. I wish every child on the planet knew love, health, happiness and had plenty to eat and toys to bring them joy.

Whatever is causing the problem of the influx of children crossing through the Mexican border needs addressed -- if America is the great nation that she claims to be, she would help Mexico and the home countries of the current influx of children address the underlying problems. If Mexico is guilty of opening its borders to 72 hour visas to allow immigrants from other countries to cross through without tendering its own aid to them other than to help them attempt to enter America illegally, that needs addressed.  While the focus of the Nation is on the Mexican border, children in Chicago are living in a war zone, terrified to come out to play. But a blind eye is turned to that because it makes our Nation look bad while welcoming *refugee* children crossing the border is great humanitarian sound bytes. The issue has the nation at war among themselves -- those pounding the drum to stem the tide versus those pounding the drum to welcome the children with open arms. There are no easy answers.

America can only hold and sustain so many people before it hits a breaking point - how far away is that breaking point I do not know. But if there are scarcely jobs for the children leaving high school how much less jobs will there be if a neighboring nation pumps unwanted children across the US border, whether their own poverty stricken citizens or refugees from other countries? It is an extremely complex issue that must be looked at from all angles and not just a few. A big issue raised is how vulnerable our border is -- as I said before, any hostile entity with a warlike agenda has only to recruit a child army and send it in and we as a nation will be ill prepared for that scenario because of our moral high ground regarding children. We think of them as innocents -- sometimes they are not. Sometimes they are hardened, brainwashed products of a cruel environment and regime. It is a sad day when we must recognize that sometimes children could be wolves in sheeps clothing -- seeming innocents that could rise up and wreak wilful havoc. Am I saying that is the case with the children currently crossing the Mexican border into the US? I have no way to know -- I truly hope not, for thier sake and ours. But it should cause America pause for cause -- all peoples throughout the world do not share common values. And many have been trained to exploit weaknesses of their foes. America will never be capable of recognizing children as foes -- it is why so many of our soldiers come home mentally broken from war -- being confronted with children the same ages as their own fighting them in battle with weapons of destruction.

I wish I had answers. I truly do. The world is a complex place and there are no easy answers to its issues.

All I can say in closing is, Americans be kind to one another as you debate these issues. It is something that effects all of us and some more than others. Put your voices together for resolutions and solutions rather than name calling and angery blasts. We are the *United* States -- lets try to be *united* -- stand together to solve the problems WITHIN the US as well as those issues from without.

Bright Blessings to all....
Rayven Michaels
Wiccan Witch of the Midwest